


Trampled Flowers

by holmesfreak1412



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, F/F, Time Skips, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-01-24
Packaged: 2018-05-15 22:42:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5803141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/holmesfreak1412/pseuds/holmesfreak1412
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"There never seems to be the right time for us." is what she tells the Azula that she has made the mistake of falling in love with yet again. Knowing this girl would be the world's end in thirteen years sure ruins the bliss of teenage romance. Time travel. Shoujo Ai.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Tourist from the Future

**Trampled Flowers**

_**A Time Travel Fanfic** _

**Prologue: Tourist from the Future**

_"If time travel is possible, where are the tourists from the future?"_

_― Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time_

_._

The lone island in between the shores of the tropical Fire Nation and the vast snowfields of the Earth Kingdom was a destination hard fought.

"Are you sure about this?"

They stood together on the intricate circle. Inside that one castle the Spirits said should be there. Twirls and squiggles all around the dirt-trodden floor and archaic figures she could tell nobody in centuries ever had a chance to behold. But this was where the spirits, desperate for balance and crying out for the world they had once taken a joy to cultivate, had led them. This was where it was supposed to start. This was where it was supposed to end.

Sokka's face was bathed with unnatural glow of something she had never seen before, tensed expression not hidden from her squinting eyes. He looked battered with his left arm stained with several scars and the other missing. His hair was disheveled and his blue clothes were torn in many ways. Ty Lee thought that she missed the smile he always favoured her, back when the gaping space between his remaining teeth did not exist yet, back when he still could without feeling guilty for living. Space Sword Number Two, he called the trusty companion was sheathed around his hip that no matter how deadly, how exquisite it was made to be, did not save their companions from dying. Not Aang. Not Zuko. Not Katara. Not Mai.

Stretching her cheek to what she remembered as a lopsided grin hurt, like a churn squeezing her heart of the little hope and optimism they still managed to keep despite the chase they have endured and the several Reapers they have evaded just to get to this point. Change the future, the spirits said. Restore the balance that is forever lost without the Avatar.

"For the resistance." She closed a fist over her heart, scarred from blue flames, burnt by lightning. She imagined an insignia of their noble liberation front imprinted on her chest, depicting the wings of freedom, the flames of their courage, the hard determination, and the fluid aim. If they had the time. If they had enough members. If Azula's face all over the flags, monuments, each death toll, each public execution and many a conquered city did not strike such fear to what was left of the world's ashes.

"I would do this." She promised him, snapping her clenched hand. She banished the memory of the last time she saw Azula, amidst her own scream and the flash of madness in her empty eyes. That was the time Ty Lee knew Azula had altogether lost her humanity. That was the time Ty Lee finally saw the monster she herself once said existed. Ursa saw it first and Azula, no the monster that went by that name, went for her first too. "I will change the future."

She would.

"I don't…" There was this tender hesitation in Sokka's unyielding grip around her other hand and for a single moment, Ty Lee faltered too, thought of the things she was sacrificing, of the many possibilities she had to let go. She loved him. Oh how she did not want to leave the man that was all that she had left now. But the world's welfare was a more pressing matter and she took the selfless resolve without flinching.

"You know we should." She reassured him and with a soft whisper of a promise, leaned closer to meet his lips. She loved him for he was the only one she had now. He loved her in the same way. Everyone. Gone, in a flash of lightning and vengeful golden eyes. Gone, because Ty Lee did not kill her when she had the chance to.

He pulled her closer and the proximity, her body rubbing against the one she had snuggled many a night with in days as a fugitive around the world took her breath away. She moved her lips against his, taking as much taste as she could get. Because this would be the last time. One way or another. "What would happen after this?" he asked, almost whined as he broke away. Ty Lee could not help but giggle at the antics both of them thought he had forgotten and it did not surprise her to realize that the sound no longer sounded familiar.

"I don't know." She spoke to his hard chest, to his soaked, torn tunic that he had not changed from for four days. "Perhaps I could change things as soon as I arrive. Perhaps, I don't know. Perhaps, it would just be a… hard road to take from now on."

"And you would not be even here to remind me to wake up before sunrise!"

"Well…" She pinched his cheeks. "You should learn to be self-sufficient then."

If the reality of their situation, of what was bound to happen, hadn't sunken in yet, it certainly filled their troubled minds then. Ty Lee held both of her lover's hands. The man she loved. The man she would sacrifice everything for. Sokka's hard grip reminded her that the feeling was mutual. This was more than just survivors bonding together. This was more than just them being on the run for their lives, heartbroken and resolute. This was more than just Ty Lee looking at blue orbs and feeling the overwhelming guilt that she still imagined the gold outside of crippling nightmares.

"You really would leave me, would you?" Sokka's voice came out a tremulous croak and Ty Lee found that she could not even hold back the tears.

"I'll find you again, I promise." She kissed him once more. "And when I do, I swear we would be in better clothes than we are now."

The hope in his laughter, the belief in their parting words, the tenderness of their last kiss were what took Ty Lee in the past in one piece.

….

.

Theoretically, as Sokka would likely tell her, travelling back in time using the power the Spirits granted, was not physically "travelling" but instead, sending back her conscious, her knowledge, her several years of experience to a younger self. "But we don't know the extent of this power." He had mused aloud, rubbing his chin in the astute, clever way she could not help but find assurance in dark days. The sun on their skins burnt and itched uncomfortably and the boat en route to this mystic island they were told about was an agonizing slow piece of work. "We were only told that it only goes one way."

"The past, yes." Which meant that whoever takes the jump would not be able to leap back. And only one person could do so. "We are to break the rules of the world, interrupt a stream from flowing, stop a creature from growing." The cloaked, masked spirit's warning. Powerful and omnipotent and yet even these mystical, powerful beings could not stop one vengeful woman from taking over the world. Stopping it before it even started, - their words- is the last resort. "But it must be done."

It has been decided that it would be Ty Lee who would go back. "Between the two of us, only I can." Which is the undeniable truth. If they want to kill Azula before she even could think of killing everyone else like she just did, only Ty Lee who is the closest to her and not Sokka who is isolated in his homeland would be able to do it. They had no idea where and when this power, this still unbelievable ability would take them. "We really should have asked the guy." Sokka had complained many times. Ty Lee could only sigh with him.

"We didn't have the time." But then again, they never seem to have the time for anything these days. Not for sleep. Not to slack off in face of surviving the world Azula had destroyed to create her own. In this world when the Avatar is no more and its hope lost, they no longer have the place to be.

The sensation as she stood on the circle was that of being torn apart piece by piece, a million needles piercing her skin as blinding light illuminated from each of her spores. It does not hurt but Sokka is screaming her name, his hoarse voice never sounding as scared as she ever heard. Ty Lee sees her life flash by and she nurses the grave feeling of losing everything. Blue light, like the fire that descended down the palace the moment the world changed. Cold, gold eyes. The sight of the girl she promised she would kill made her clench her fists and bear through everything that is happening without protesting.

Then… it all was gone.

She should not be surprised when she woke up later, after an eternity of being dragged to numerous worlds she could not even remember, of timelines she had watched unfold helplessly, in a crib… toys hanging overhead, her father's face beaming happily, the taste of breast milk still sour on her lips. She should not be surprised to wake up as a baby with the whole twenty seven years of life she had already gone through still ahead of her, with the horrible future yet to become her unchangeable past.

But she was….

….

.

It takes a few weeks for her to see, to feel that her crib is a bit too spacey than she imagined for a girl sharing it with six other bawling infants. She feels so weak, her limbs a bit too heavy to be responsive of her commands. Powerless. She could not even cluster her own intelligible words. No sounds of crying either, as her parents always told them there never ceased to be when she and her sisters were babies but she can hear her mother doting cooing just fine, can see her father's shadow every night when the wet nurse turns her in. She wonders if they really had been this proactive when she was young as they had been indifferent when they were growing up. Then she starts to hear her name. Her name. Only her name.

"What an unusually quiet child."

"She is quite subdued, yes. My baby girl hardly ever cries."

She is born alone.

No six sisters to share her bedroom with. No six sisters to squabble over the littlest things. For some reason, this makes her feel a little bit empty. "You would end up sacrificing a lot." The man himself had told them, in the last effort of what was clearly a half-hearted dissuasion. "You would lose a lot. You would lose a lot in the end." But they had been too focused on what the world would gain to focus on anything else. The silence of her nights becomes the telltale lead ball that dropped to the bottommost of her guts. So this is just the first that she would lose. This is just the beginning.

She speaks for the first time when she is four months old, a single word that took every air out her small lungs. Her father is holding her at the time and his strong, hairy arms shook with the pride that he never once expressed before any of his children. He stares at her aghast, expectant and Ty Lee humours him because she kind of likes that startled look on his face.

"She spoke my name." She hears her father gush as Mother comes back from the baths. She could hear his excitement, could imagine the brilliant glitter in his eyes as he animatedly describes what he seems to consider as her little breakthrough. "She spoke yours too. Mama, she said. She was looking for her Mama!"

The feeling of being lifted in the air as her mother's arms cage around her is no longer unfamiliar. The kind woman rocks her back and forth, slowly and gently as Father prattles on about what an intelligent little girl Ty Lee must be and how famous their clan would be if everyone knows of it. Later in life, her mother would be the humourless housewife who followed her husband's every whim. Father would be too mindful of keeping their noble name out of the dirt to bother memorizing his children's names. Or they could have been, if they still have six daughters they would never be able to distinguish. If Ty Lee was still who she was back… who she would have been.

"Must be a little, genius girl we have here." Her mother hums in agreement, the squeaky quality in her voice rather endearing. Her soft, flowery giggling, Ty Lee realizes for the first time is the most beautiful thing she has ever heard.

"A prodigy!" Her father zealously agrees and something about his enthusiasm, the look in his eyes flares the solid determination to hear it from the man who once scoffed at her acrobatics once more. She would make him look at her like that again. His daughter. She would be his pride and joy. She would finally be the little prodigy he had always dreamed of. She would make him look at her like that.

What is the harm of enjoying herself while she is incapable of accomplishing her mission yet? Azula is probably born around this time now, wide-eyed, unknowing and with that certain spark in her that made Ozai believed that she is the one. She would stop her. Ty Lee would. This time around, Azula would not be allowed to fulfill that destiny.

It is easy to relearn the basics, to speak more than two hundred words by the time she reaches six months. She manages to stand on her own feet while holding on the rails of her crib, grins at her keepers as she calls them by their names. "What a nice girl!" they praised. "What a smart girl!" they all agreed. For someone who has been labelled as an airhead, a ditz, a dumb block all her life, the collective looks of admiration becomes something that she starts looking forward for. The feeling soon becomes intoxicating. The feeling soon becomes something that makes her chest puff in pride.

Ty Lee of the Xiao noble family starts to make sense of the calligraphy her mother reads her a little after the charming sweetheart her daddy loves so much, turns one. She did not mean to. But at a year old, Ty Lee becomes the child prodigy she never was.

She thinks amid the songs of adoration from the people who once mocked her, that losing her sisters is not much of a loss after all. There is much to gain in this world. Perhaps, when she meets Sokka again, she would be more than just the odd girl who he was conveniently stuck with after his second girl friend died in the hands of her—

No, she tells herself.

Past is past.

It would never be her future.

Ty Lee promises herself that she would never make _that_ mistake again.

….

.

"If she could firebend, this girl would be unstoppable."

The Fire Sage, old and wizened leans closer and from her sight, she could clearly discern the wrinkles he did not bother to conceal. He smells like dust, worse than the rather unpleasant mildew that seizes her sensitive senses in those frequent times her father takes her to the family library. Her private tutoring sessions with him is getting blander and blander each day. Math problems are as mind-numbing as she remembers it is. The difference is that her teacher tells her she did a marvellous job this time. She is two in body and twenty nine years in mind. Jaded, she wonders briefly if she made a mistake. If she is showing too much.

But no one would likely suspect a child like her of any conspiracy. She could be planning for the future Fire Lord's assassination, for the million ways to stop her from growing up into the terror that she would become to the scarred world but to the people in the year 88 AG, for now she would just be the Xiao's family only daughter that knows how to read at one and could speak straight sentences at two. Not the desperate twenty-nine year old woman who leaped back through time to be in her place now.

"That might not be possible, my sage. Unfortunately." Her father, the man that is nowhere close to the one that she had, ruffles her head affectionately. Ty Lee pouts. She never imagined this once stern man smiling brightly like this would get so old. "I am afraid neither my wife nor I are benders."

"That is not impossible. There have been several cases where two nonbending parents bore a bending child."

"My family never had any bender though."

The sage runs his fingers to his chin, looks at Ty Lee and smiles. "That might be quite tricky, I must agree." He cocks his headways, a motion of thoughtfully mulling things over. Ty Lee holds her tongue, even though it irritates her how they speak as if she is not in the same room. She is turning three in body in two months. Thirty in mind. "But this child," The man gestures at Ty Lee. "… is one of a kind. A prodigy that has been unprecedented in her learning skills. She is in around her kanji now, isn't it?"

"And the multiplication table, yes." The pride in her father's tone is neither as unfamiliar nor as rewarding as it once was as well. Ty Lee tunes out his drones of her various achievements, which become nothing when she realizes that she, have had twenty-nine years of knowledge and never the talent they all thought she had. It feels like cheating in an exam. It feels wrong.

But his next words take her attention. "Isn't the princess quite the prodigy herself?"

Her head snaps up, eyes wide.

_Azula._

The sage nods. "She is, but nothing compared to your daughter." The last few words are toned down to a conspiratorial whisper, as though implying that something is greater than the mighty royal family is nothing short of treason in itself. "She is a once-in–a-generation kind of genius."

"In contrast, my daughter's intelligence has never been seen before." Another exultant pat in the head. "Agni, I do swear that she s older than me sometimes!"

Which she is.

The other man chuckles freely as Ty Lee rolls her eyes. "Princess Azula has been showing promise in her firebending though. That amount of raw power expressed as a toddler now is something no one has ever seen before."

It is a power, Ty Lee muses as she tries to calm her palpitating heart. A raw power that would destroy continents and crush its people's hopes in one swoop. All in the body of one three-year-old who would later conquer, burn and create a world that she viewed with empty, empty, golden eyes. A three-year old that she remembers, she has to end.

"Is that the reason why you came here to ask about my daughter?"

"We must admit we are very interested if our Princess would have any rivals."

She was the closest to Azula. That was why she was chosen… no, chose to do this.

"It would be interesting to bring two prodigies together for the betterment of the Fire Nation, isn't it?"

Perhaps, she would meet Azula sooner than the brief stint in the Fire Nation's Academy for Girls.


	2. ONE: Pages Alreade Read

**ONE: Pages Already Read**

_"Don't time travel into the past, roaming through the nuances as if they can change. Don't bookmark pages you've already read."_

_-James Altucher_

.

 

 

Fire Lady Mai, exhausted of the strenuous day's events and very, very pregnant was sitting by the palace balcony when it happened.

Her stomach rounder than anyone had ever seen in any expecting mother, it was the first time that the nimble and agile knife thrower had ever been so sluggish and unbalanced in her movements. Naturally, she tried to cover her limp with every grace and poise that her mother had once drilled to her. She would have groaned that such daintiness, this inane pretext of delicateness, was just so tiring if complaining did not make her sound like the hormonal, plump woman she tried so hard to avoid being.

Ty Lee was with her too, in her full Kyoushi Warrior suit as they sat together with cold cups of Jasmine while exchanging stories of how boring days came and went. It was nostalgic—the nonchalant, stoic drone in Mai's voice and the genuine enthusiasm Ty Lee only felt whenever she was in the presence of her oldest friend. But as with all things retrospective, as with all things irrevocable, there is a missing link that she did not wish to acknowledge. It becomes easier each day. Five years. If something does not want to be found, you should not look for it.

"I know what we should do, Mai!" she exclaimed as her friend dismissed yet another one of her tales to too fantastical, too unbelievable because Mai knew that her current boyfriend was not the one. There never was any for her. Mai knew well that Ty Lee herself knew too. Her friend had bet that the relationship would not last till the end of the month. It was harder, with each failure of a fling, to prove her wrong.

"We should try to find names for your baby girl!"

"I will cross the bridge when I get there." The frown lines that creased Mai's countenance did not look too deep anymore. The small smile playing on her lips overshadowed her playful suspicion. "How do you even know… that the worm inside me…"

"Woooorm?" Ty Lee stretched the word in mock disbelief. She covered her parted lips, trying to hide a grin.

"…Fine, the child inside me is… uh, a daughter?"

"Woman's intuition." Ty Lee rubbed her cheek quasi-thoughtfully and stuck out her tongue. "Hai means gray… Hana for flower… Hmmm… Himawari for sunflower I guess, being Fire Nation and all."

"Horrible."

"Hanabi. Fireworks?"

"No."

"Ka… Hmmm…. Anything that comes through my mind sounds like a boy's name."

"You might be wrong. This might come out with a dick."

Laughingly, she shakes off that notion. "Hmmm. Nay. Nay. Mai. Definitely not.…" She has played this game far too many times with every pregnant woman back in Kyoushi Island. She never missed. "But she would be a Princess so she must have a name befitting of one. Hmmm.. I don't know. I think there should be a standard in naming royalty. Like it has to sound really cool, scary but poetic at the same time. Have you asked how Miss Ursa named her children?"

Mai's brows creased.

"You mean how she named Azula?"

Azula.

It felt like being washed off by a wave that neither pained nor dragged her away. Of course, because she was better than that. She was better than that. She was better—

"Well, yeah." She found herself unable to meet Mai's eyes. She clenched her fist, gritted her teeth. What a mood damper. "I'm sorry…" She sighed heavily. "Hearing it… her name… just surprised me, that's all."

Mai shrugged. "Hn."

She waited, paused for Mai herself to prompt for the topic of conversation they have intentionally strayed from for so long. But her one and only best friend—the one who stood with her through thick and thin—only inspected the nails she never particularly cared about.

"I should have these manicured. What colour would you think is the best?"

"You would always choose black."

"Good point." Mai met her eyes. "You would suggest pink anyway."

She would. But there was no need for Mai, of all people to point out such a shallow thing about Ty Lee. Perhaps, she was not as unaffected as she once led Ty Lee to believe. Perhaps, in the nights that she remembered the bonfire in Ember Island, Mai had also thought about that other girl they all tried so hard to forget.

Ty Lee never did.

"Do you ever start…" Hesitantly, Ty Lee decided to pursue the line of treacherous thought. "… wondering about what happened to her?"

Mai was nonplussed and for a moment, Ty Lee was grateful. Because this only meant, that Mai was ready for an answer, true or not. That Mai thought about it too. She brought the cup close to her lips byt did not drink. "After using my father to try to dethrone Zuko? As far as I am concerned, when she vanished once more, she was dead to me. Forever. She should not come back. If she does…"

"I know. Everyone wants her head." Ty Lee's eyes stayed downcast. She breathed in, leaned her head back as she mulled grievously over things that she did not dare to make sense of. "I never really moved on from her, you know."

"I know."

Ty Lee's chortle was the broken chime of a music box. "I should not think about these depressing things. My skin. Geez, not gonna invest on another one of those costly boxes once more. What are we talking about again, Mai?"

Mai grunted. "Izumi." She muttered.

Ty Lee looked up.

Her friend was stroking her protruding tummy, eyebrows raised as she answered her confused, unspoken question. "I'll name this one Izumi."

"Oh." She murmured. "You sound like you are naming a catdog!" Ty Lee found it in herself to laugh merrily as Mai scoffed it off like it did not make a difference. Her friend, her best friend always had it in her to make her feel better in the most unexpected way. This always happened. What could she ever do without Mai? "Izumi. Wow, that's a nice name. Spring. Like a new beginning."

"Oh no, nothing fancy and philosophical with the names. She—if you are right about this one being a girl—is just scheduled to be born in three months. In Spring. I would like to keep things plain and simple."

"That's so you."

Mai tilted her head. "What's wrong with that?"

"Well, it does sound like royalty." The Kyoushi Warrior chuckled once more. "I am sure the sages would approve. I am sure they would enjoy having a naming ceremony after so… long." She trailed off.

The last one was Azula's, after all.

The girl everyone had been pretending never existed. Zuko went on as Fire Lord as though he never had a sister who once coveted the crown on his head. Ursa took care of her other daughter under the imaginings that she was the only one. No portraits left. Her room was locked from anyone to go in so no one would know that sometimes, just sometimes, Ty Lee slept on the dusty sheets pretending it still smelled like her.

Silence.

"Ty Lee…" Mai's tone as she called her… Mai's amber eyes as she called her were serious and imploring. "I am sure you know…"

"Know what?"

"That there is nothing left to do…" She directed her gaze at the noon sun. It was high up the skies, guarding its favoured nation. Firebenders are in their most powerful at the hottest time of the day. "There is nothing left to do but move forward."

At that time, Ty Lee had wholeheartedly believed her bestfriend.

She was ready to move forward. She had been so, so ready to forget.

But it was only minutes after this resolution when the first blue fireball the world had seen in years exploded right before her eyes.

….

.

"What is going on?"

Smoke everywhere. The entire balcony had been sloped down precariously over the edge. One misstep surely would snap it off its concrete foundation. It was a three storey fall. She knew enough of the palace in her nightly rounds to be sure of the three shrubs below that could cushion it. Mai could manage surviving with Ty Lee just fine. They have experienced much worse dilemma, been in much more life-threatening situation in their eventful lives but Mai had Izumi now and she was nowhere in condition to leap away from debris that was bound to collapse at any moment. Ty Lee would be an aunt soon. She had to get them out of this.

Ty Lee, eyes opening a crack despite the overwhelming dark mist, groaned and coughed. Blood. She was coughing blood. She felt a sharp sting on her throat as she summoned her strength to speak. "Mai!" she called out. Her voice came out wrong. The world around her titled sideways. "Mai!" she croaked out louder. "Mai!"

Creak….

"Mai!"

Smash!

The impact came right after the sensation of falling, the unpleasant feeling of helplessness as her back collided to a hard thing that did not feel like the shrubs she had taken consolation in her thoughts with. There was something sticking from her lower torso and around it she felt through an even stickier pool of fluid. Sharp, her fingers deduced. But it did not hurt as much as she thought it would… Mai… Where is Mai?

Mai…

She opened her mouth.

Mai…

"Mmmmmm… Aaagh…."

Mai.

The pain then pierced her like a wash of hell, concentrated on her sides. Moving hurt, felt like being pinned back as everything else fell before her. _Mai…_ She groped around through the debris, touched the metal that kept her down. If you remove it, you would lose a lot more blood. Who said that again? Suki? Where's Suki? Everything seemed hazy. Mai! Where are you, Mai?

_Mai!_

"Dead."

That voice…

She was sure it was a hallucination. She was sure, she wished that it was just a fragment of her delirium. The pain made her dizzy and she was sure that the dark silhouette that was shaped like the one that haunted her waking dreams was just a cruel trick of her eyes.

"Dead." the voice repeated.

It was…

Familiar.

"This is disappointing."

A kick. The voice sounded empty, emotionless, heartless.

The voice sounded nothing like Azula.

"Two birds in one stone hm…"

The sound of snapping fingers.

"But I guess I need to be sure."

And suddenly, an inferno of blue flames combusted through a bolt of lightning. It was a power that Ty Lee never saw before. She could see Mai's prone body amidst the bright conflagration and the dark shadow of a figure, robed and menacing, that she could recognize from anywhere.

And then it was gone.

The fire burned out right in front of her as if nothing happened. No ashes. Merely scorch marks.

"Mai…." She stuttered but she could still feel the heat, the feat that struck chords in her heart. Mai was… Mai was…

Steps.

Getting closer.

"So you are here too…"

Those golden eyes she could never forget.. Azula looked taller than the last time Ty Lee had seen her. But there was something off, something different. Her eyes… her eyes.

They were empty.

"Why?" she exhaled, struggling to stand. Mai was gone. Mai was gone.

Azula was gone. "Why do you look like that?"

Unflinching, Azula's hands glowed. "You…"

What happened to her?

Who is this?

Who is this monster?

"You are not worth killing."

….

.

Thinking back today—89 AG, trapped in a three-year old body—Ty Lee wonders why she asked Azula that question when she could had screamed and implicate her harshly of the many monstrosities that she was responsible for. You are not worth killing, she said in the end. Perhaps to Azula, she never was worth anything. Why do you look like that? It did not matter. Azula was still the monster who ended Mai's life. Ty Lee wished she just forgot about her. Ty Lee wished she never existed like everyone pretended she had.

But here was Ty Lee, who traded everything. Her new love. Her new life with Sokka. The life that she was used to. All to have that one chance once more to end Azula. But she lost Mai too. She lost Zuko. She lost so many friends. She lost her place in the world. She was ready, should have been ready but hiding in the guise of pure innocence unmarred with the cruel world while calling strangers younger than her her parents was proving to be quite the challenge.

Azula gave her no choice after all but to move backward.

She used to be able to effortlessly climb these high gates and run around the paved road surrounding the hill leading to the Fire Nation Royal Palace. She had performed rounds around each hall, subdued the most vicious of assassins and been to the deepest of the dungeons. She had been the country's head of security. She had been the Fire Lord's trusted bodyguard.

She had helped conquer the impenetrable Ba Sing Se…

She was the first to bring the girl who later ended the world down.

She was the one who was not able to protect Mai, Izumi.

She was the one who let her Fire Lord die.

She was the one who allowed Azula to do it.

She was the one who survived.

But at three, she could do nothing for now than to sit on her mother's lap while impatiently moving her too small limbs as the carriage drove nowhere as fast as the automobile they have in 114 AG. The view beyond the curtained window was nothing new either, except there was less evidence of the industrialization that took the world by swirl during Zuko's time. Caldera was still its foggy, modern metropolis. It had never been picturesque enough to dazzle her.

"Fire Lord Sozin had done major renovations to the Fire Nation Palace after Avatar Roku destroyed it." Her father seems more excited, more upbeat. His hands were clasped together, rubbing the edge of his sleeves every five seconds. They were in their best clothes. He insisted so. They were to meet the Fire Lord and his family after all. "He changed a lot of things, from its base architecture and the artifacts displayed all around the halls of the palace. He was a man of art, you see. Agni, bless his holy soul. He had commissioned our family for decades in painting the royal family portraits. Your grandfather did the one with Fire Lord Azulon, Ty Lee. He is one of the most gifted firebenders ever by the way. His highness conquered many Earth Kingdom cities in his name and exterminated many of the troublesome water bending peasants in the Southern Water Tribe. Makapu Village for example and Yu Dao. But that is a lecture for a later time…"

He messes with his cufflinks once more, fidgets with the neat and locked buttons. "Fire Lord Sozin also started the tradition of the burning throne. To show the undefeated power of the Fire Lord. I am yet to see such a majestic sight for myself but perhaps this would be our lucky day. What do you think, my heir? I'm sure you know all this. I did mention this once to you, didn't I?"

There are also the secret passages the Firelord Sozin had devised. And the underground throne room. The fact that the Fire Sages stayed in the Crescent Island they never tell anyone about. The Dragonbone Catacombs. Such a wealth of information a three-year old knows and yet here is her father being so self-entitled and exalted with his daughter remembering the information they would disclose to seven-year old children later. She wonders if he had seen her rolling her eyes at the propaganda he himself believes. Perhaps, he just dismissed it, like he overlooked the fact that she somehow knew he was scared of spiders.

"You don't seem to be very excited, Ty Lee." Mother. The beautiful woman who was too meek, too uninspired to stand up to her husband. She is looking at her worriedly. Ty Lee presents a crooked smile even though it is uncomfortable to have so many missing teeth.

"I'm excited, Mother!" She assures her. Ty Lee does not miss the forlorn, sad, sad sigh the young woman she calls mother emits.

Her father garbles on. "I am sure Fire Lord Azulon would be so impressed with our little girl. You would be attending the Academy soon, Ty Lee. Youngest ever. Not even the Princess could do that."

"You said I could be friends with Azu… the Princess?" Being on a different year than Azula in school would make things harder for her. Stopping Azula from destroying the world is not just a matter of accidentally pushing her off a rampaging ostrich horse. She had to be careful. Being executed for murdering the Princess would not let her enjoy the world she came back in time to save.

"You still could Ty Lee, I am sure of it." Her mother seems to be excited at the idea of her only daughter meeting with some children. More than she should even when said children are of royalty upbringing. Which makes sense. It is only now that Ty Lee realizes that she had not seen any child her age during her three years in this body. The household had never been as quiet. She always had her six other sisters before. "You could play dolls with the Princess later."

She resists the urge to laugh. Azula hates dolls.

She does not plan to be so chummy with Azula anyway and definitely does not have any inclination to play cartwheels with a young, cackling troublemaker once more. No, definitely not. She came with them to observe. Just to observe, In two years, she would be tall enough to relearn her gymnastics. In three, she could probably start chi-blocking. Regaining both skills could help in her mission. For now, all she has are her eyes. She has all the time in the world anyway.

"You would meet the princes later as well." Her father is wearing a conspiratorial smirk that Ty Lee could not help but scoff at. The ambitious man that was her dad knew no bounds. He is no different in this time. Here we go again… "Perhaps, you should make friends with one of them at least."

"Dear!"

"There is nothing wrong, dear…" The endearment is accompanied by the note of venom Ty Lee knows so well. Indeed, this version of her father is not as different as the one she was used to. Mother certainly shrivelled the same way at the withering, scolding tone. "It would be good to pursue an advantageous union for our daughter while she is young." He turns to her. "What do you think, Ty Lee?"

She has learned that her father expects her to respond like a dutiful but mischievous enough daughter. She does so, mostly because she enjoys the look of pure pride that crosses his face. "I do not see anything wrong with it, Father." She favors him with a calm smile. Of course, she would save Zuko for Mai. That is always how it is meant to be. She would like to see Izumi born this time around. Perhaps, she could save Lu Ten from dying too. That way, Uncle Iroh would be happier.

She is here to watch. She is here to observe. In time, she would take her action. She would definitely change the future. She would change the world. She can. She has the power. The world is under her feet. She knows what she should do.

She mentally makes a list of the things she could change. Ty Lee closes her hand into a fist as she mulls over the many, many things that she could do to make the world a better place for her friends. She only met Lu Ten once but he had been a nice stranger, a laughter-loving young man that reminded her of how Zuko himself had grown up to be. She can prevent The Southern Raiders from ever stepping close enough to kill Sokka and Katara's mother, or killing anyone for that matter. She would not let Zuko bear that scar. She would not let Azula live long enough to ruin everything she would set.

She feels her mother squeeze her harder into a hug that feels oddly comforting. Even without looking, she could sense the worry that she exudes, the sadness that seems so premature to such a pretty soul. She had seen her mother look at her like this in the past three years that she could not help but think that of all the supposedly smart people she encounters every day, this unremarkable woman is the only one who saw through her.

That she is not, never a prodigy.

That she knows Ty Lee is just an impostor taking over an innocent girl's body.

….

.

"Fire Lord Azulon would see you in the throne room now." The bearded man's critical golden eyes narrows towards them. She does not recognize him but he wears the colours of a glorified servant and acts like what his clothes signifies. He turns back to Father, tone sternly authoritative. "Alone."

As expected, her father's lips curl into disappointment. He has brought them with him in hopes of showing Ty Lee off to the Fire Lord. "For political prospects." He had reasoned as he demanded for the best tailored dress she should wear for the occasion. He was lavish in his preparations for this daym despite hearing the rumours that Ty Lee knew firsthand to be true. Fire Lord Azulon was a morose, old man not easily impressed.

But Father is left with no choice but to tacitly nod and fall into step with the stone-faced butler. "I will be back." He tells Mother. His eyes scan around the dark halls of the front wing, a prey looking for opportunity to strike. He is never an astute man. He is never the clever, scheming one. But he knows a game to be played when he sees it. "I am sure you can find ways to amuse yourself around here."

Ty Lee, of course, is old enough to understand what he means.

The two men turn right and they vanish from her sight, the shuffle of their feet echoing in the eerie halls. She has seen her Father's paperwork—an offer to put more effigies of the Fire Lords around the Gates of Azulon. In her previous life, her father's talents were not recognized enough for him to be contracted for it. Little by little, Ty Lee knows the future is changing. Leaps and bounds? She does not know. She does not even know what happened to Sokka after she leaped back through time. Did he stay in the island? Did he return back to the Earth Kingdom to lead the guerillas? Or did the Sokka of the Future altogether cease to exist?

" _Paradox."_ The spirit had said. _"It is inevitable."_ The man's words had been unbelievably cryptic. Even Sokka ended up advising her not to think much of its logic.

In this lifetime, her father is a much more influential man. Without a doubt, her father would find a way to insert his prodigious daughter in his conversation with the Fire Lord somehow. He is that kind of an opportunist. His prodigious daughter. The Ty Lee now is the heir he never had in his other life.

Ty Lee feels her mother's firm grasp on her wrist. "We can go to the gardens, Ty Lee." She suggests, tugging her. "Do you want to see the palace turtleducks?" Ty Lee mutely nods. It is hardly a coincidence if they would see one of the royals loitering around their own yard after all. Father expects her to make some influential friends today and it would be nice, quite nostalgic if she would see another familiar face.

She has long since forgotten how Zuko looked like without a scar, the brand of honorable humility that once upon a time, in a war-torn world was the source of his life's biggest shame. She wonders if funny, old Uncle Iroh is around at this time of year since Father did say that she should be able to meet Lu Ten. Was he as kindhearted as he was in the other lifetime? Iroh was still the Dragon of the West around this time. Did he also sincerely believe that the Fire Nation's only goal is to share their advancement with the world?

Mai would still be too young to be paraded around by her social-climbing parents. In a few years, the shy girl she would meet in the academy would be the strong, young woman that would stand up against her greatest oppressor in the name of her love. Ty Lee could not wait to meet her again. She would be alive and well in this time line. Ty Lee would not let Azula burn her.

The five-year old Zuko flashes Ty Lee a shy look as he keeps himself out of sight behind his mother's flowing dress. Ursa's youthful face crinkles with fondness as she playfully admonishes the young boy of his timidity.

The very presence of two royalties seems to awe her mother into speechlessness. Thankfully enough, she does not stumble to her words in introducing them. It is Ty Lee who maintains her composure and dutifully bows towards the Princess. She flashes Zuko a small grin which only causes her future Fire Lord to conceal himself further. Endearing, she thinks. Ty Lee supposes that she kind of knows now what Mai saw in him all those years ago… no, later.

"My son is just a bit shy around strangers." Ursa tells them. She gently pries off Zuko's clenched fingers from her dress and pushes him forward. This same shy, blushing boy would be the strong Fire Lord Ty Lee would serve someday. Zuko would still get the throne. That is the one thing she would not try to change. "Zuko. Don't be rude to our guests. Remember what Momma taught you about proper etiquette as Prince of Fire Nation? Look how refined the little girl is. Introduce yourself properly."

"Uh…" His cheeks puff cutely. Awww.

"Come on, baby."

"My name is Zu…Zu… Zu…" Red-faced, the poor boy scurries behind his mother once more. "My name is Zuko."

"Zuzu!"

The high-pitched beckon comes directly behind the two royalties. Ty Lee involuntarily steps back, every muscle tensed as a young blur of red and black barges unceremoniously forward ahead of her family. Azula looks every bit like the innocent child everyone has been once upon a time, except even at three, she has already learned to giggle wickedly as she petulantly pulls on her brother's hair. Her eyes are wide with mischief. "His name is Zuzu!"

"Don't call me that!"

"Azula…" Ursa's scolding tone is still light as she separates her two children. Zuko pouts. Azula is… smirking. Could a toddler even smirk? At twenty-nine, Ty Lee does not know. "We have guests."

The words seem to call forth a totally different persona from the mischievous, if a bit troublesome child that emerged out of nowhere. The poise, elegant Azula Ty Lee remembers so well is back when the young girl straightens and regard the two strangers with a scrutinizing stare. She is struck by how different it looked from the pair of the same eyes she last saw. These eyes are alive with life, with happiness, with as much innocence as Azula could ever have.

For some reason, this makes Ty Lee's mouth hung open in bewilderment.

Her arms still wrapped around her growingly petulant brother, Azula squints her eyes. "Who are you?"

"Azula..." Ursa puts her hand on the girl's shoulder. The woman sounds exasperated. "That is not how you are supposed to ask questions."

She is four, Ty Lee mulls as she beholds the sight of this dark-haired, golden-eyed child that would soon bend blue fire. She is four and they are already teaching her how to ask questions. She would use torture methods with it later. She would use her flames with it later. She would use it to change the world. She would use it to even break the will of spirits enough to resort to desperate measures.

"That is okay." Mother seems more comfortable now, smiling brightly despite the blatantly suspicious look Azula is giving her, "It is a pleasure to meet you Princess Azula. I am the Matriarch of the Xiao clan and his is my daughter, Ty Lee."

Ty Lee bows once more, as her mother discretely prompts her. This one is reluctantly executed. She finds herself not wanting to take her eyes off Azula. Then she remembers that this is not the dangerous, unpredictable, tortured woman she would be a decade later. "Nice to meet you."

"I hope you can be friends." Mother puts forth. Ty Lee knows enough to recognize the forced smile, the scripted delivery. Three years and Ty Lee has found that the woman is more perceptive than she lets on. Did she see that there is something wrong with Azula too? But her father wants this. This is what they went here for.

This is what she went here for.

She was close to Azula. That is why she chose to do this.

Nothing else, right?

Zuko's cheeks flush red. He takes a step sideways away from his sister. "Sure…"

"That would be great." Ursa claps her hands together. "Why don't you-?"

"Hmmm… but why should we be friends?"

The question obviously startled the adults because both mothers look in aghast at the rather ferocious Princess who has her hands on her hips. Ty Lee herself holds the stare, ignores the frown that the Princess is brusquely giving her.

"Oi, Azula…" Zuko gently prods her with his elbow. "You are not s'pposed to say that…"

"Because…" Ursa is clearly uncomfortable. Azula waits for her answer, her pronounced scowl judging. "Well, why not, Azula?"

"Because friends are important." She turns back to them. "Are they important people?"

"Of course, they are—"

"Where's your father?" She addresses Ty Lee and for a second, it takes her breath away. Nothing to fear, she reassures herself. If Azula tries anything now, Ty Lee could easily kill her barehanded. But Azula pointedly looks around. Merely looks around. "is he one of granddad's generals?"

"That's Fire Lord for us, Azula…" Zuko frantically whispers.

"Whatever." The girl indignantly huffs. Zuko rolls his eyes. They actually look like… normal siblings.

"We are from the Xiao noble family, your Highness—"

"Ahh…" Scoff. A three-year old _scoffed_ at her mother. Ty Lee is reminded of how unpleasant a child Azula used to be. Why, oh why, did she even like her? It had been genuine too. Ty Lee had genuinely wanted to be around Azula. Then she fell for her. Then she let her live long enough to destroy everything.

The girl cocks her head to the side, as though trying to remember something. "Hmmm… the artist family." She pronounces the last phrase with a superior, dismissive air.

Ty Lee grits her teeth. She had enough. "We are more than just the artist family, as you say." She points at the dragon fountain in the middle of the clearing, surrounded by flower shrubs. "We did everything in this palace. From your portraits, to your sculptures. My father is even talking to your grandfather now in nego—"

She feels her mother squeeze her shoulder. Painfully.

Zuko is staring at her with wide eyes. He shakes his head and sighs.

Azula is frowning.

"You must be the little prodigy they were talking about."

The deep, baritone voice sends chills to her spine. She has only met him a few times. She had been glad that it was so.

"Prince Ozai!" Mother exclaims. Her knees buckle as she readily prostates herself before him. Ursa's face freezes in something that is unreadable and Zuko looks like a cornered, frightened animal.

Ozai's eyes are fixed on her as he slowly makes his way to their group, curious and interested. His stride is firm and looming. "But I must say you are right…" He resumes, nodding towards her mother. A permission to rise. "The Xiao family has been in the service of the royal family for generations. They are not just any artist family, Azula. Did I not emphasize that in our lecture?"

Azula's eyes… there is a momentary flash from them. She takes a deep breath and is it just Ty Lee but did Azula just… quiver? "Yes, you did. Father. I… am sorry."

"What did you say?"

"I apologize…" For one moment, Azula loses the squeaky, childish quality of her voice. "I apologize, Father."

"Perhaps, I need to teach you some more. It is about time for your firebending lessons."

Azula… has been training since she was three.

Her power had been notorious, of course. Her potential almost unbelievable. She was unbeatable, every one of the resistance leader that they had coordinated with had raved helplessly. She could not be killed. She was a monster. Azula had been less of a threat when the world saw for themselves just after the war that she was far from the perfect killing machine Ozai had made her to be. And yet she came back with vengeance. She came back to finish the job she was the only one to have ever come close to accomplishing.

She burned Mai and Izumi. She burned them without even leaving an ash for them to rise from, as though they never existed, as though revenge to the whole world who acted like she never did.

With one last look towards Ty Lee, Ozai turns his back from his wife and son. He does not spare them a word. Zuko shrinks away once more. That is right. He is still in this phase. So determined to please, so wanting of the neglectful father that never once deserved him.

Ozai takes three steps away and then notices that his daughter is not following. His stern reprimand follows like the menacing sound of judgment. "What did I just tell you, Azula?"

"I want to play, Father."

Surprised, Ty Lee realizes that Azula has not looked away from her all this time. Not even once.

The Princess is still fixated on her when for some reason after a wordless exchange, Ozai relents. "Fine. Make sure you come to me when you are done." He spares Ty Lee one more look before, just as soon as he arrived, started walking away.

"Interesting." Azula is still looking at her. She walks closer, lips firm into a thin line. "A prodigy, eh."

Ty Lee could not help but feel naked under her gaze.

Because if there is one person who could possibly see through her too…

It is Azula herself.

**(TBC)**


End file.
